I worked with,and was quite friendly with,a young black woman 25 years ago.
She said to me,”Ah,we just make up the names.”.
.
Two hats. One with vowels one with consonants. Pick and choose, voila, a name.
A doctor I know told me that when he was doing his residency he and the other young residents would make up names for the kids of these young single mothers who hadn’t given it a single thought. Sometimes they’d just look around, maybe see some meds in a cabinet, and morph a name out of that. Gotta put something on the paperwork.
BTW, I always ask anyone black to spell their name because besides choosing unusual names, many times they also choose unique spellings, even for traditional names.....
Her name was: L-A
Everyone take a shot at how to pronounce it!
If no-one wins, I'll post the “correct” pronunciation....
When my first daughter was born, I suggested a unique name and my wife nixed it. She said it had to be a name where she could buy pencils with her name at souvenir shops.